Update on my battle with palmar hyperhidrosis

[steve_nf]

I got the Robinul tablets a few weeks ago. Kind of been putting them off because A) Potential side effects (I even heard it could possibly cause memory loss?) B) Even if they do work effectively, I'm not keen on taking a pill which isn't even created purposely for hyperhidrosis for the rest of my life.

The surgery is scheduled for Jan 20th. Insurance hasn't covered the surgery yet, we're hoping they'll respond before the date. If not, the surgery will have to be rescheduled. I'm fairly certain they'll accept it, as we've met all the requirements.

Also, the Dyshidrotic Eczema on my feet has been getting very itchy lately. It's motivating me to do the iontophoresis for my feet. It's because I just got off of winter break, and my feet are caged in my shoes for 8 hours. All of that sweat can't get absorbed so it seems to irritate my skin causing this rash.

I'll keep yall who are reading updated!

[steve_nf]

I registered at the hospital at 8 am, and then I went to the room where I was given the IV. Stayed in that room for quite awhile, about an hour... then headed to the room where I was given the anesthesia. The doctor was there and after a brief acknowledgement the anesthesia started to kick in and I was out like a light. The next thing I remember was being in the recovery room talking to a male nurse there. Then, after I felt more conscious, they took me to my parents who were waiting in another room. I stayed there for awhile, talked about how I felt (I had slight pain the chest when I took deep breaths), and then the doctor came in and after exchanging some comments with us, shook my hands a couple times and left. Currently, my hands are dry, though it feels like a very little sweat is coming out of my fingertips. Honestly, I think it's just me because every time I try to feel the sweat there's no wetness. Anyways, I'm not worried about that though, since the nervous system needs time to rearrange itself after the surgery. I do have some compensatory sweating in the area where my ribs are, and some more sweat is spread across my butt and thighs. Man, I can tell you right now it is much better in these parts of the body than on the hands. I can now DO things with my hands. There's not much human interaction done with the belly and thighs contrasted to the hands. It is such a gigantic relief that you really need to experience yourself to truly understand it.

I'm in a little bit of pain right now, and practicing my breathing. I'm expecting the pain to subside in 3 or so days.

[admin]

Hey Steve thanks for that same-day update! You reminded me of own surgery in 1998, although I never wrote down anything about my experiences in Sweden right away like you did.

Did you take a before and after heart rate? Seems like cutting or clamping T-2 reduces your heart rate slightly, but clamping T-3 or T-4 is unlikely to do that.

I appreciate your sharing your experiences here a lot and hope your CS is minimal!

[steve_nf]

Hey, you're welcome.

Unfortunately I did not check my heart rate before, nor did any of the personnel at the hospital. So, I have no records for that, sorry.

Anyways, I realize I have the phantom sweating side-effect, where my hands feel like they're sweating but they're not. I checked some info, and on one doctor's website, it says that this problem typically resolves in 1-3 weeks.

Also, I forgot to talk about my feet sweating - my feet sweating reduced by 60%. Don't think it's enough to wear flips flop comfortably, but I'll try it.

[steve_nf]

Here are side-effects I currently have:

* very little night sweats
* I urinate a lot more at night only. i've been waking up 3 times at night to pee
* drier eyes/face/scalp. only the eyes bother me. Next time i'm getting an eye exam i'll request some prescription eye drops. my face was very oily and got very sweaty before the surgery anyway. for the scalp, i use a special dandruff shampoo that lubricates the scalp fine.
*compensatory sweating spread across thighs, back, torso, butt. not nearly as debilitating as palmar hh.
*face hasn't sweated since the surgery. quite concerned about this, but i suppose during the summer i can use a mist spray and that would do the trick? need suggestions
*dry hands (hehe, i have to admit they're a bit too dry). i frequently use a hand lotion which isn't a problem at all
*phantom sweating (should go away 1-3 weeks)

of course the dry hands are amazing and even if i had more CS i wouldn't go backwards.

[steve_nf]

Basically the only side-effects that have remained are the compensatory sweating, and the phantom sweating. Dry eyes are no longer a problem.

Compensatory sweating is tolerable. I soak through my butt area and my thighs more easily, but it's nothing like it was with the hands. I'm buying a spray antiperspirant, my doctor said they work good for comp. sweating.

Phantom sweating is annoying, and I hope it goes away (my doc keeps saying it will). But I can live with it even if it doesn't.

My next update will probably be months from now. Best regards everyone!

[carriew]

Steve nf,
How did you surgery go? I'm asking because I've just joined the forum as am at the end of my tether following just about every single treatment that is available to HH sufferers. I am 30 and had the sympathectomy surgery when I was 14 but it didn't help me at all. Actually I did have dry hands for 3 days and then it returned. I have gone through most of life's big events including school, university, boyfriends, my wedding day etc. with this affliction so am pretty much giving up finding a cure for my problems. Sincerely hope the surgery worked for you though.
Carrie

[steve_nf]

Steve nf,
How did you surgery go? I'm asking because I've just joined the forum as am at the end of my tether following just about every single treatment that is available to HH sufferers. I am 30 and had the sympathectomy surgery when I was 14 but it didn't help me at all. Actually I did have dry hands for 3 days and then it returned. I have gone through most of life's big events including school, university, boyfriends, my wedding day etc. with this affliction so am pretty much giving up finding a cure for my problems. Sincerely hope the surgery worked for you though.
Carrie

Hey hun, surgery went as I expected, great! You seem like you'd be a good candidate for ETS, seeing how greatly palmar hyperhidrosis affects your life. Good luck

[steve_nf]

Hi all, just thought I should give an update on things.

Side effects:
Dryness above the nipple line. This side effect includes dry hair, dry face, dry scalp, dry skin on arms, basically everything above the nipple line is drier.
Compensatory sweating. I primarily wear black and other dark clothes now because of this. I bought some Sutran shirts a while ago, but I need to lose some weight before I can fit into them (I bought Larges thinking I could ).

For the dryness above the nipple line. Moisturizers. Period. It's the only way to combat it. You just need to keep moisturizing your face, arms, scalp, chest, upper back, etc throughout the day. For the compensatory sweating, I pretty much summed up what I do above. I've been wearing dark clothes, and bought the Sutran shirts (I actually did buy the correct size for one of the shirts, and they DO work. It doesn't work by absorption, so you can sweat all you want and it won't soak through. It actually consists of a second layer within the shirt that doesn't allow sweat to pass through. Worth checking out if you're having troubles with comp. sweating.)

So, at the end of the day, if someone asks me "Do you regret ETS surgery?" I would reply...

ETS surgery is not the for the weak. You must wake up every morning and tell yourself to not take your body for granted. I had a fucked up sympathetic nervous system from the time I was born, and ETS didn't change that. ETS just released this sweaty hand problem that causes so much embarrassment in the world we live in. You simply can't hide your hands in this world, as this world requires too much interaction. This is why I got ETS. When I look back from the time I was born to now, the year I got my ETS surgery was the most productive year I've had so far in my life. I started college, passed the first semester with all 3 A's and 1 B, and I got my Driver's license. I only see myself going forward.

[steve_nf]

I figured I'd give another update in this thread. It's hard to believe that it's been almost been five years since my ETS surgery. I still can remember the drive to Miami with my parents, being wheeled around the hospital by nurses, constantly confirming the surgery I was about to undertake, the phantom sweats after the surgery, etc. I'm in my last year of college and I'll be graduating with a B.S. in Computer Science in May!

I honestly attribute the ETS surgery to greatly advancing my quality of life. Long gone are the days where I would be taking a test and worry about soaking the test papers, or holding someone's phone and worry about getting it wet, or using a keyboard and mouse and become very anxious when little puddles of sweat started appearing on top of the keycaps. I have a very positive outlook on my life and can't wait for the next chapter of my life that will begin after I graduate.

As for the side effects, it's pretty rare these days that I even think about them. Occasionally I'll have a bad day of compensatory sweating, where I'll get high anxiety. The worst side effect is the inability to sweat from my nipple line up. I am very much an indoors person, so it doesn't bother me too much. But, it does hinder enjoying things like the beach, or doing outside house maintenance, because you're upper body heats up while your lower body is profusely sweating, trying to cool off. It does feel like a split-body at times. If you're an outdoors person or like to play sports, then I would not advise getting this surgery. Although, I believe there is a decent percentage that you'll still be able to sweat from your head after the surgery (for the record I got the T3 and T4 clamped), but I would not gamble that. Also, I currently have a bad dandruff problem which I suspect is due to an excessively dry scalp, but I'm not entirely sure that's caused by the surgery.

As for my feet, they still sweat heavily. I almost never wear flip flops in public. I'm too lazy to do iontophoresis on them or treat them. I used to get bad rashes on them from the sweat, but as I got older this problem went away, thankfully. I will absolutely never consider doing ELS.

So, that's about it for my update. If you have palmar hyperhidrosis and feel severely hindered by it, I would recommend the surgery for you. If you decide to get the surgery, please make sure you pick a surgeon that has performed hundreds of ETS surgeries, and performs various kinds of surgeries, not only ETS (don't go to somebody selling themselves as an ETS-only surgeon).

[Starrski]

Great to be able to have a glimpse of your journey throughout this five/six years. Congratulations in advance on your uni completion.

I'm still suffering from HH on my hands, feet and armpits. Was about to go ahead with ets but it was too expensive in my country and insurance would most likely not cover it. Plus, my parents never really understood how much this was affecting me so all they did was sorta to shrug it off. I do not blame them as the cost of surgery is indeed too expensive, now that I take a step back and look at things. Back then all I wanted was to go ahead with the surgery, telling my parents that it would be worth the money. I'm always a firm believer that things happen for a reason, so I guess there must be a reason why i never did go through with it.

Like you before the surgery, I guess I sorta try to turn off the thoughts and feelings about my sweaty condition. However I do see it affecting me in life.

I used to play baseball and before I bought batting gloves, it was extremely tough to get a proper grip on the bat, hindering my batting ability. Even with gloves though, the bat would still slip for some reason.

My parents have always complained about me staying at home all the time. And I guess this is where my HH is affecting me the most. I dislike going out because it would just be a constant reminder that I'm opening myself up to embarrassments when I go out. There's the chance of having to shake people's hands and what not. I would like to be able to find a part time job(student currently) but I just never got to doing it because of my HH.

I know to some degree I'm just making up excuses for myself, if I really want to get a job I should etc. Im really looking forward to starting my iontophoresis treatments soon, and hopefully to block the sweating. I know for a fact that if I had dry palms though, things would definitely be very much different. I guess I'm thankful I did not go through with my ets as you mentioned that the dryness above the nipple line was affecting you.

Cheers. (Abrupt ending lol)